A Holocaust survivor, fulfilling a lifelong dream, sang the national anthem at a Major League Baseball game.
Hermina Hirsch, 89, performed “The Star-Spangled Banner” on May 21 in Detroit prior to the Tigers’ game against the Tampa Bay Rays.
In an interview last month with the Detroit television station WWJ, Hirsch called on the ball club to allow her to sing and promised she would not be nervous singing in front of thousands of baseball fans.
“If I lived through the concentration camp, it couldn’t be that bad,” Hirsch said. “I don’t want to die before I sing at a baseball game.”
After an outpouring of fan support, Hirsch got her wish.
Born in Czechoslovakia, Hirsch endured a series of Nazi camps beginning in 1944 when she was 17. She was liberated in January 1945.
She reportedly has been a Tigers fan since moving to Detroit with her husband in 1953. The couple immediately began attending baseball games.
Hirsch has been singing the national anthem for years during regular meetings of area Holocaust survivors. — jta